Asinus Protego (4/5)
Title: Asinus Protego (4/5 or 6)
Author: godricgal
Rating and Warnings: R for sexual content
Prompts: Chance, "I've been able to see them ever since my first year here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
Word Count: 5660 words
Summary: Just days after Dumbledore's funeral, when Remus and Tonks are working to rebuild their relationship in the wake of their reconciliation, an anonymous tip off, brushed off by the Ministry, piques Tonks' curiosity. Can she and Remus get to the bottom of the mystery before it's too late?
Author's Notes: Very many thanks to mrstater for being my sounding board as I've fine tuned the plot for this fic, and for giving it the bestest beta treatment.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |
Asinus Protego, Chapter 4
Tonks let Remus enter the room first, so as to assert his authority and lead of the upcoming interrogation -- for that is what it would be: no friendly chat, no time for an exchange of insults, but an efficient questioning that yielded the highest return in the shortest possible time.
If he reacted to his first sight of Snape, she couldn't tell. He'd been very calm since they arrived at Grimmauld, merely giving her a soft kiss and whispered thank you before throwing his shoulders back and heading down to the basement.
He strode to Kingsley, and they held a brief, whispered conversation before Kingsley withdrew from the room, shutting the door behind him. When he had gone, Remus drew back a chair from the table, and gestured for Tonks to take it, which she did -- after casting a locking charm on the door. When Remus took his place beside her, he rested his elbows on the table, and clasped his hands, steepled, and peered at Snape impassively.
Normally, Tonks would have placed her hand on his knee in support, or in exceptional situations -- normally during long Order meeting that bore bad tidings -- taken his hand and held it under the table, neither of which was an option today. So she hooked her ankle around Remus, because she needed to touch him, somehow, and she knew it would help him, too.
"Tonks," Remus said, turning to her slightly, "if you wouldn't mind." He gestured lazily towards Snape.
"My pleasure," she replied, drawing her wand and lifting the Silencing Charm she'd cast earlier, followed by throwing out an Evanesco on the magical bonds she'd conjured.
"So," Snape sneered, addressing Tonks as he rolled his shoulder very slightly, "the werewolf came running back, I see."
"The murderer came running back, as we have already seen," Tonks said casually, wondering if Snape knew there was nothing he could say to wind her up on that front.
"Let's not waste time on the niceties," Remus interjected. He turned to Snape with a fixed expression that was neither conciliatory nor, aggressive. "Before we move on to the case in hand, I -- we -- need explanations. More than explanations. Why come to us now, when it seems so clear, at long last, whose side you're really on? I'd rather do this without duress, but I shan't hesitate, should the need arise."
Without acknowledging Remus' words, Snape said, "The story is a long one. I shall endeavour to give you the pertinent details, and then you may question me further if you wish, and I am willing to answer. Agreed?"
Tonks thought it would be wise to agree. Snape was at their mercy, after all, and if they wanted answers later, by golly they would get answers. Remus looked at her through the corner of his eye and she nodded very slightly.
"Get on with it then," Remus said, his tone no-nonsense.
"About a year ago," Snape began, "Dumbledore started taking leaves of absence from the school, without explanation. I daresay no one would have noticed until the term began again, at which point he began to inform certain staff members when he would be away, but still he refrained from disclosing his activities and destinations...But I am getting ahead of myself. Not long before the term was due to start, Dumbledore returned from one of his trips gravely injured. He would not divulge to me where or how he came to have received the wound, but it was life-threatening. Once I'd stabilised him with a few carefully brewed potions of my own devise, it became clear to me that all that could be done was keep the effects of the injury at bay with a continued therapy."
"His hand…" Remus said.
"Indeed," Snape replied. "In effect, Dumbledore was dying, and he was well aware of that, it was not something I could, or indeed should want to keep from him."
"Dying?" Tonks said incredulously.
"That's what I said," Snape drawled.
"That's ludicrous!" she cried. "He'd have told us!"
"And so he might have, were it not for the events that followed only days later."
"Which were?" Remus still had not reacted to anything Snape had told them thus far. His expression was blank, his posture straight, and, Tonks knew, tense, though she doubted it was visible to anyone else, he was doing all right, coping, so far.
"The Dark Lord came to me with a plan. A plan that was tantamount to revenge against Lucius Malfoy for failing to retrieve the prophecy, and rendering himself useless in Azkaban. You will know, of course, that the only wizard The Dark Lord has ever feared was Dumbledore."
"And Harry, I believe," Remus added quietly.
"It is madness to suggest that The Dark Lord fears such an incompetent fool of a boy," Snape spat.
"If it were the point at hand," Remus said, "I would ask you then, why he troubled himself with an attempt on the life of boy barely past his first birthday, but since it is not, I will leave that point alone, Severus."
While this was really no laughing matter, Tonks could not help putting one point squarely on Remus' tally, and cheering inwardly for his ability to lay down a barb, leaving his opponent with no choice but to ignore or lay himself open to childish protestations. Momentarily, she tightened her ankle around his, hoping he understood her meaning. His eyes briefly flickered in her direction, and she knew that he had. They would laugh about it later.
Snape chose the first option open to him, although not without revealing how much Remus' words had bothered him. "Are you interested in hearing about the plan or not? I have far more productive things to do with my time."
"By all means, continue," said Remus with a wave of his hand.
"When the Dark Lord returned, he had two items on his agenda that were of highest priority: the retrieval of the prophecy and the demise of Dumbledore. One man's failure in the former led to his son's assignment of the latter."
"Voldemort asked Draco Malfoy to kill Dumbledore?" Tonks asked.
"Yes, he did."
Voldemort had asked a young man not much more than a boy to overpower the greatest wizard of the age? It seemed ludicrous, foolish, even. Though, Tonks reminded himself, it hadn't been Malfoy who'd committed the murder…
"So where do you fit into this, Snape?" she asked.
"I'm getting there, you impatient girl. I did tell you this was a complicated story."
Tonks bristled internally, but tried not to react visibly.
"The Dark Lord did not expect Draco to succeed, though he did mark the boy as a Death Eater when he gave him the assignment. It was his other Death Eater at Hogwarts he expected to step up, once the boy had failed."
"That would be you," Tonks said.
"Naturally. When I was told of the plan, I did, of course, at the earliest opportunity, relay the news to Dumbledore. He did not react, but merely told me that under no circumstance what-so-ever was I to risk my place as spy amongst the Dark Lord's camp. It was, and I agreed with him, too important a position to risk, my intelligence has been invaluable to the Order, perhaps more so than any."
"Go on," Remus said, speaking for the first time in a while. Tonks wondered if he was thinking of his own mission, which he still perceived as a failure, whereas, in reality, it had simply been a lost cause. Though she thought the sting of that lessened with each day he spent with her, she knew it was still something Remus felt quite raw about.
"Not a day later," Snape continued, "I was paid a visit by Narcissa Malfoy and her petulant sister. Your aunts, Nymphadora."
"Technically," Tonks replied. "As you well know, it's not a relationship that's been acknowledged on either side during my lifetime."
"Quite," replied Snape, with an ugly curl of his lips. "Narcissa was highly distressed, wishing to speak with me regarding Draco's assignment. She begged me to help him. Bellatrix has always been suspicious of me, and that turned to open hostility after the failure to successfully deliver the prophecy; jealous, I believe, after her fall from the grace of the Dark Lord's right hand side, a gap I didn't hesitate to fill. She questioned my loyalty on all counts she rightly could have, for all of which I have practiced explanations, and used them effectively."
"Where is this leading, Severus?" Remus asked.
"To this: Sure that her son would die in the fight, Narcissa asked me to help, to look out for him, to make sure that he either succeeded or survived, and if failure and survival was to be his outcome, that I would step in and finish the job for him. She asked me to take the Unbreakable Vow."
Silence. Shocked silenced filled the air.
"You vowed to kill Dumbledore or die yourself?" Tonks whispered.
"You've got to see!" Snape said, sounding urgent and earnest for the first time. "I had no choice! Dumbledore's orders: do not compromise your position. He was of the opinion that I had done the only thing I could do, and that it was the correct decision. And don't forget that I've already told you he was a dying man."
Tonks looked at Remus, not caring for a moment about professionalism; his hands were clasped, white knuckled; his lips were set and pressed tightly together; his eyes were cast downwards. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. Perhaps, like her, a war raged within -- several wars, actually.
In the first instance, could she believe this story, this fantastically spun tale? What if it was all a calculated lie to draw them in, once more, so Snape could reclaim his seat in both camps? Surely his post in the ranks of the Order was as valuable to Voldemort as the Order had found Snape's position as a supposed spy amongst the Death Eaters. And Snape himself had said that his lies to Lestrange had been well practiced. Who was to say he hadn't been standing in front of Narcissa each night for the last week practicing this very story?
Then there was the much shakier ground of how to feel about Dumbledore's orders and Snape's oath of the Unbreakable Vow. This seemed to amount to Dumbledore planning his own death -- waiting for it, expecting it...
As though reading her thoughts, Remus' slightly hoarse voice said softly, "For a whole year, Albus knew he was going to die?"
For the first time, Snape seemed to waver, his expression almost crumpled as he looked down and said, in as near a tone of apology as Tonks had ever heard from him; he said simply, "Yes."
Silence once again descended on the room, even thicker and more potent than before. After a few minutes, Tonks couldn't help but reach out and lay her hand on Remus' thigh and giving it a slight squeeze; it wasn't the comfort she wanted to give -- she wanted to lead him out this room and up to theirs, hold him in her arms and let him take from her whatever he needed.
Small comfort seemed to be enough however, because Remus lifted his head and spoke quietly, "You must understand, Severus, that we need some time to process what you have told us, and that we may have further questions. What is it exactly that you want from us?"
"I had intended -- and discussed it, planned it so with Dumbledore," Snape said slowly, "that I would leave more time before coming to you -- to the Order, but recent events dictated that no more time could be spared."
"The Lovegood case?" Remus asked.
"It's more complicated and more far reaching than that, but yes," Snape replied.
"Please tell us what you know."
Tonks was a little surprised that Remus was allowing the change in subject and moving on so quickly, but perhaps it was as he'd said, they needed time to process -- talk about -- what they'd heard, and they really did need to find out as much as they could about their case.
"I gather from Miss Tonks that you are already aware that Mr. Lovegood, of the Quibbler..." His words were laced with scorn. "...is currently being held under the Imperius Curse."
"Correct," Remus said.
"What else do you know?" asked Snape.
"We have been able to surmise from speaking with his daughter and some notes I've found that there is a connection to the Onocentaur herd."
Tonks noted that he'd left out the Ministry connection, and resolved to ask him about it later.
"Good, that will save us time, of which I am now in short supply, if I am to retain my cover and return without the risk of being questioned. Almost as soon as he regained his corporeal form, the Dark Lord sent his servants to look for the herd. It is only recently that the search has yielded a return. It has been a great source of frustration to him that his men cannot get close to the herd without alerting them, and sending them, once more, on the run."
"But they have been able to follow them?" Tonks asked.
"Indeed. Maintaining a discreet distance, they have been able to track the herd from one forest to the next, ongoing for about three months now. When one attempt after another failed, it was accepted that they would be unable get close; they needed someone purer of heart, someone who had an interest in observing the Onocentaurs that wasn't rooted in personal gain, and once he was within a serviceable distance, he would be able to cast the Imperius himself, and lead one of the beasts away for capture."
"So they decided to get someone to do their bidding for them," Tonks said. "Mr. Lovegood"
"Yes. As Mr. Lovegood is well known as a fool in society, it was thought a little strange behaviour would go unnoticed -- perhaps an oversight given that the case is already under investigation by the Order of the Phoenix, and even his daughter, second only to the father for absurd ideas, felt the need to report the issue."
"Wait," said Tonks, "how do you know Luna reported it?"
"And there we come to the crux of the matter," Snape said. "You were overheard."
"Overheard? Where?" Tonks asked.
"Yesterday, when Miss Lovegood caught up to you in the street, you were being watched-"
Tonks felt Remus tense beside her, in his calf and his thigh, where her hand still rested. "Who was watching Tonks and why?" he said quickly, leaning forward.
"As touching as your concern is, Lupin, there is no need to get yourself worked into a frenzy. Your girlfriend is not the only one. All Ministry employees are watched leaving from the street entrance; there is an abandoned shop several doors down that serves as a spy post."
"The shop…" Tonks said with a groan.
"Quite," Snape said, the smallest of smirks touching his lips. "The latter part of your conversation was clearly audible, and a report made to the Dark Lord within the hour. And this is the important bit: the girl is in danger. Her head has been placed on the list of desirable hits."
"And, as I must leave you now, I will just say this: you must do everything you can to stop this from happening, there will be very little I can do except pass information when it is safe for me to do so."
"We are well aware of the gravity of this situation, Severus, do not mistake us on that point," said Remus.
"Good, then I will leave you to get on with your investigation," Snape said. "I presume I am free to go?" he said, his tone one of presumption despite his words.
"Yes," Remus said quietly, piercing Snape with his cold gaze. "Just one more thing … I don't trust you yet, and as such I am taking a great leap of faith in letting you go, and as you have indicated a willingness to work with us, I assume you won't be disagreeable to a meeting in two days time."
"That should be manageable. I shall send word. Do not reply. I suggest you do your utmost to make yourself available at the time and place I name."
"I will do whatever is necessary to close this case," Remus replied as he pushed back in his chair and stood.
Snape, too rose, then strode to the door, and grasped the handle; before he pulled the door open, he turned his body back to them but kept his face down to the floor. "I hated him. For the last few months, I hated him for what he was going to make me do."
Tonks was shocked at this display of vulnerability from Snape. Never had she seen him anything less than in control before.
"He gave me a second chance, and for that, he had and still does have my loyalty, and while I can be sure of what he would want me to do, I will continue to serve him."
And then he was gone; sweeping up the stairs, his cloak billowing behind him, leaving Tonks in a state of disbelief.
The front door slamming shut as Snape left the house brought Tonks back to her senses. She turned to Remus, who looked as though he was still working through Snape's parting words.
"Remus," she said, her voice sounding more plaintive than she'd intended.
He looked up at her, as though surprised that she'd spoken. He held out his hand to her, and she placed her own across it. He seemed to study her hand for a moment, running his thumb across the back, and then turning it over, lifting it to his lips and pressing the smallest of kisses to the sensitive skin in the centre of her palm, and letting his lips linger on her skin.
"Later," he said, pressing another kiss. "Let's talk about that bit later, once we've done what we can for Luna."
It was, she realised, what he needed to do: take care of the practical tasks that could measure progress before attending to their -- his -- own needs. She knew, too, that he neither wanted nor expected anything less from her than to turn directly to business, and to see to it as soon as possible would ensure that she could turn to his needs all the more quickly.
"Do you think The Burrow is safe enough?" she asked.
"For now, yes, I think so. Although Molly and Arthur will have to be made aware of the risk, and that choice is theirs." Remus lowered her hand but did not let go, but threaded his fingers through hers and rested them on his knee.
"I wonder," Tonks said slowly, as an idea began to form. "If we shouldn't stage something to give the impression that Luna is on her own again, and not in the protection of the Ministry, or as they've probably guessed, the Order, since I mentioned you in our original conversation."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well, if we staged a meeting between you and Luna, outside the shop, you could argue about whether she was in need of protection or not, and whether her father was in danger. She could reiterate her explanations for her father's behaviour. You fail to convince her of the danger, and she leaves, at which point I can start following her, morphed, pick her up after a safe distance, and take her back to The Burrow or bring her here."
"You're brilliant, do you know that?" Remus said, his eyes suddenly a shining blue as he looked at her, in contrast to the stormy grey they'd been only moments before.
She was forcibly reminded of the first time he'd looked at her with such palpable admiration -- the night Harry'd been attacked by the Dementors -- the night that ought to have been a celebration of their declarations of love, but which had been cut short by duty to the Order, and instead she'd found herself hatching a plan to rescue Harry from his Muggle relatives while Remus had exchanged Owls with every Order member who needed to be made aware for that nights events.
She grinned at him, feeling the old spark of fun, of co-conspirators returning to their partnership. "Today, do you think? Or tomorrow?"
"I don't think we should wait another minute," Remus said. "Then bright and early tomorrow morning, we can decide what to do about Mr. Lovegood. We've left it long enough, it's time we started actively looking for him."
"Off to The Burrow, then?" asked Tonks.
"I think so," Remus replied as he rose, pulling Tonks to her feet with him.
Many hours later, Tonks and Remus were wearily climbing the stairs to her flat. They'd run into Kingsley at The Burrow, who'd offered to stay at Grimmauld to give them both a night away from the grim confines of the house, for which they were both immensely grateful.
They'd picked up supper at the chippy around the corner, and tucked under Remus' arm was a paper bag, emblazoned with the slogan 'The Great British Take Away' that contained a large portion of chips, dripping in vinegar and liberally sprinkled with salt and a large haddock for them to share.
Once they'd let themselves in and recast the security charms, Tonks turned her wand on the windows to let some of the warm, fresh night infuse the stuffy air of her too-long abandoned flat, while Remus summoned two dusty bottles of Butterbeer from a cupboard in the kitchen and unfolded the paper around their food, laying it on the coffee table.
Tonks grinned at the remembered normality of it all; a year of informal dinners, seated on the floor in her living room, sharing fish and chips or Chinese, or the occasional toasted sandwich they'd sometimes dared to prepare together.
"Come on," Remus said, holding his hand out to her, "let's enjoy this, and then we can get the serious stuff out the way before I haul you off to bed."
She settled down beside him, and he handed her one of the little wooden forks that always seemed perfect for chips, but did not fair so well when it came to eating a large piece of battered fish.
They chatted about nothing, and laughed as they struggled with their -- well, she supposed it must be called cutlery, although that seemed a bit of an exaggeration. Tonks told him of a few diverting stories from her time stationed in Hogsmeade -- and she had many to chose from, despite the doom and gloom that had descended in the current situation, as it was impossible to spend any length of time in an all-Wizarding village without coming across a few eccentrics every now and again.
Once they'd finished, Remus Banished the few soggy chips that remained and the paper to the bin, and lay his arm across the seat of the sofa, motioning for Tonks to snuggle up to him. She picked up her Butterbeer and scooted closer, nestling her shoulder under his, and curling her legs over his thighs.
He kissed her briefly, then chinked his bottle against hers, and said, "To a job well done and a most excellent plot."
The sting with Luna had gone as well as they could have hoped for. Having at last conceded to Remus that her father might indeed be in danger, Luna said she would do anything she could to help them in their quest to get him back. Tonks had decided that she was a terribly stoic child, taking everything in her stride, and beneath all the eccentricities lay quite a grounded common sense. And Tonks thought she'd detected a measure of neediness, too, that a large part of Luna's willingness to participate in today's operation had been to fulfil a sense of usefulness; for Luna had been nothing less than excited to have an active role to play.
In true Ravenclaw form, she'd risen to the task most admirably when it came to staging her argument with Remus. Tonks had watched from a bench across the street, disguised as a Muggle in her forties, pretending to read a novel. At a prearranged signal from Remus, she'd stowed the book in the handbag she was carrying and headed up the street, ducking into an alley to morph once again, this time into a teenager around Luna's age, transfigured her outfit into something more appropriate, and then waited for Luna to catch up with her. They'd walked on a bit further, turning into several streets until they'd come to a large Muggle department store, its windows full of large blue crosses. They'd entered and headed to the lifts, and waited until they were alone to Apparated back to The Burrow, where Molly and Arthur, on hearing about the threat to Luna's life, had been quite insistent she stay, given that many of the protective measures that had been installed after Harry's visit last summer were still in place.
"Now we just need to decide what to do about the other Lovegood," Tonks said heavily. "Do you have any ideas?"
Remus set down his Butterbeer and placed his hand on Tonks' knee. "I think we should go and have a look around the Lovegood's house, see if we can find anything about where, particularly, in the Forest of Dean they might be targeting. It's not exactly a small place, and heading straight there without any idea of where we're going would be foolish and a waste of time."
"There were no specifics in Dumbledore's notes?" Tonks asked.
"Nothing I could make out," replied Remus with a sigh. "He was never was much of one for committing things to paper. There is something I'd like you to take a look at though." He shifted slightly, keeping his arm tightly around her shoulders, and reaching into a pocket in his robes. He pulled out a tatty piece of parchment and handed it to her.
Tonks opened it carefully, making sure not to enlarge the slight splits in the paper in the corner of each fold. "There seem to be a number of Runes in the margins, and you well know how abysmal my Runes knowledge is…" He gave her an adorably sheepish smile, which she returned with a grin.
She pushed the table back and turned to sit cross-legged beside Remus, smoothing the parchment on the floor in front of her. She leant over it, reading Dumbledore's familiar swirling cursive script quickly and then tracing her fingers over the single rune on the page. "That's Algiz," she said, "Rune of protection and spirituality."
"Protection?" Remus says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it fits doesn't it?" Tonks said with a frown as she tried to remember more. "I seem to remember something else about it symbolising a hunt or something. Let's grab my book from the shelves." She took her wand and Summoned an old, dusty tome from the bookshelf in the corner. "Dad gave me this for my seventeenth birthday, said it was one of the few crossovers from Muggle to Magic, and he wanted me to have a little of both."
She turned the leather cover and ran a finger over the inscription in the front:
It was a simple, crudely draw Dagaz, the rune of transformation and of brightness, growth, progress and development. To her, it had been a simple message of his support for the career she hoped to pursue the following year, and had meant more than a thousand words strung together in the face of her mother's continuing disapproval. Along with the usual rush of affection she always felt for her Dad whenever she took out this book, whether for research or simply out of interest, came a pang of guilt; she'd not been home in over a year, and, she realised, it was something she'd have to rectify soon; she needed to take Remus home to meet his future in-laws.
"Tonks?" Remus said enquiringly.
She shook her head. "Sorry," she said, "I always get a bit sentimental over this old book." Then she laughed. "Right. Algiz."
Tonks leafed through a few pages, until she came to the simple Rune of Algiz, with it's straight Yew tree formation. She lifted the book and settled it so it half lay across Remus' lap and half across her own. They read together.
Algiz illustrates both the antlers of the elk, and the shape of the sedge-grass herb. It also suggests the splayed fingers of a warding-off hand. It is a powerful rune of protection and, spiritually, it symbolizes reaching up to the divine. Algiz also represents success through endeavour in a hunt, quest, or other enterprise.
"I usually find that the rune's deity is the most helpful place to start," she said. "See, Heimdall, here." She turned the page and read quickly, growing more excited.
"Are there any stories about the Onocentaurs having a horn?"
"Like antlers, you mean?" Remus asked.
"No, as in a bugle or something."
"Oh," Remus said, laughing, "no, not that I know of."
"Hm," Tonks said, "it seems Heimdall here is the guardian of the gods and will sound his horn when danger approaches, he has exceptionally sensitive hearing; it is said he can hear the grass growing. He is guardian of the Bifröst Bridge, which is-" she started to flick through the pages.
"The bridge away from the land of mortals," Remus finished.
They spent the next hour reading everything they could about Heimdall, his horn -- the Gjallarhorn -- the Bifröst Bridge and any related topic. They talked about the possibilities and how the legends they were reading about could apply to what they knew of the Onocentaur herd. Finally, Remus Summoned a detailed atlas from the shelves and opened it to the north end of the Forest. They agreed that their first port of call ought to be the existing bridges built by Muggles, since it was as good as any a place to start and they didn't have any other leads.
Of course, their search of the Lovegood house might well turn something up in the morning, but as Remus said, and Tonks whole heartedly agreed, it was good to have a back-up plan.
At that point, Tonks decided it was time for work to end, and to turn their thoughts to the issue they'd both put aside all day: Snape.
She asked Remus to uncork a bottle of wine she'd been saving for no reason in particular while she put away the books. Just a few minutes later, they were both curled up in their favourite position on the couch, and sipping on glasses of perfectly chilled white wine.
"How do you feel about this morning, Remus?" Tonks asked softly, once they'd both taken a sip.
He sighed deeply and, to her dismay, his posture, that had seemed so sure, so confident during their research and planning, drooped visibly. She was sorry to have to bring the subject up, but she had to know how he felt, and she knew that he needed to talk about it, and wouldn't bring it up himself.
"I don't know, to be honest. I have no idea what I'm supposed to think." He threaded his fingers through her free hand, which rested across her thighs. "As much as I'm loathe to admit it, my instinct is to trust him with caution. We can't say that we weren't surprised when we heard the news from Harry that night -- none of us."
"I know, but it's just so hard to come accept that at the end of the day, he did kill Dumbledore, even if we accept his story. I still can't get over what he said about Dumbledore expecting it for an entire year. Wasn't he scared?"
"No," Remus said softly. "Dumbledore would never be afraid of death. Dying at the wrong time, perhaps; dying for no reason. But, if Severus' story is true, I believe Dumbledore would have seen it as a necessity and, above all, an honour."
"It still doesn't make it fair, though," Tonks whispered.
"It doesn't, but we can't dwell on that. I don't think we can compare the value of two lives; I've been thinking about it all day, and all that I keep coming back to is what would Dumbledore want us to do? What would Dumbledore himself do?"
"Let's say, for the sake of argument that Snape is telling the truth -- and we should be able to confirm it soon, shouldn't we? When Dumbledore's portrait wakes up -- I think he would want us to forgive, and use every resource he's left us to continue fighting."
"You're right," Remus said with feeling, picking up her hand and pressing a kiss to it. "You're absolutely right."
Tonks gave his hand a squeeze and, after a few moments silence asked, "Are you okay?"
"How could I be anything but, when you're by my side?" His blue eyes met hers earnestly.
Touched beyond measure by his words, Tonks leaned in for a kiss; soft and slow and achingly sweet.
"We've had a long day," Tonks said against Remus' lips when they parted just slightly. "Do you think we ought to get to bed?"
"Sounds like an excellent suggestion to me," Remus replied, pressing one more kiss to her lips before breaking away and draining the last of his wine. Tonks did the same, and clambered out of his lap, offering her his hands.
They headed, hand-in-hand to their bedroom, leaving the wine glasses to be washed in the morning.
Author: godricgal
Rating and Warnings: R for sexual content
Prompts: Chance, "I've been able to see them ever since my first year here. They've always pulled the carriages. Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am."
Word Count: 5660 words
Summary: Just days after Dumbledore's funeral, when Remus and Tonks are working to rebuild their relationship in the wake of their reconciliation, an anonymous tip off, brushed off by the Ministry, piques Tonks' curiosity. Can she and Remus get to the bottom of the mystery before it's too late?
Author's Notes: Very many thanks to mrstater for being my sounding board as I've fine tuned the plot for this fic, and for giving it the bestest beta treatment.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 |
Asinus Protego, Chapter 4
Tonks let Remus enter the room first, so as to assert his authority and lead of the upcoming interrogation -- for that is what it would be: no friendly chat, no time for an exchange of insults, but an efficient questioning that yielded the highest return in the shortest possible time.
If he reacted to his first sight of Snape, she couldn't tell. He'd been very calm since they arrived at Grimmauld, merely giving her a soft kiss and whispered thank you before throwing his shoulders back and heading down to the basement.
He strode to Kingsley, and they held a brief, whispered conversation before Kingsley withdrew from the room, shutting the door behind him. When he had gone, Remus drew back a chair from the table, and gestured for Tonks to take it, which she did -- after casting a locking charm on the door. When Remus took his place beside her, he rested his elbows on the table, and clasped his hands, steepled, and peered at Snape impassively.
Normally, Tonks would have placed her hand on his knee in support, or in exceptional situations -- normally during long Order meeting that bore bad tidings -- taken his hand and held it under the table, neither of which was an option today. So she hooked her ankle around Remus, because she needed to touch him, somehow, and she knew it would help him, too.
"Tonks," Remus said, turning to her slightly, "if you wouldn't mind." He gestured lazily towards Snape.
"My pleasure," she replied, drawing her wand and lifting the Silencing Charm she'd cast earlier, followed by throwing out an Evanesco on the magical bonds she'd conjured.
"So," Snape sneered, addressing Tonks as he rolled his shoulder very slightly, "the werewolf came running back, I see."
"The murderer came running back, as we have already seen," Tonks said casually, wondering if Snape knew there was nothing he could say to wind her up on that front.
"Let's not waste time on the niceties," Remus interjected. He turned to Snape with a fixed expression that was neither conciliatory nor, aggressive. "Before we move on to the case in hand, I -- we -- need explanations. More than explanations. Why come to us now, when it seems so clear, at long last, whose side you're really on? I'd rather do this without duress, but I shan't hesitate, should the need arise."
Without acknowledging Remus' words, Snape said, "The story is a long one. I shall endeavour to give you the pertinent details, and then you may question me further if you wish, and I am willing to answer. Agreed?"
Tonks thought it would be wise to agree. Snape was at their mercy, after all, and if they wanted answers later, by golly they would get answers. Remus looked at her through the corner of his eye and she nodded very slightly.
"Get on with it then," Remus said, his tone no-nonsense.
"About a year ago," Snape began, "Dumbledore started taking leaves of absence from the school, without explanation. I daresay no one would have noticed until the term began again, at which point he began to inform certain staff members when he would be away, but still he refrained from disclosing his activities and destinations...But I am getting ahead of myself. Not long before the term was due to start, Dumbledore returned from one of his trips gravely injured. He would not divulge to me where or how he came to have received the wound, but it was life-threatening. Once I'd stabilised him with a few carefully brewed potions of my own devise, it became clear to me that all that could be done was keep the effects of the injury at bay with a continued therapy."
"His hand…" Remus said.
"Indeed," Snape replied. "In effect, Dumbledore was dying, and he was well aware of that, it was not something I could, or indeed should want to keep from him."
"Dying?" Tonks said incredulously.
"That's what I said," Snape drawled.
"That's ludicrous!" she cried. "He'd have told us!"
"And so he might have, were it not for the events that followed only days later."
"Which were?" Remus still had not reacted to anything Snape had told them thus far. His expression was blank, his posture straight, and, Tonks knew, tense, though she doubted it was visible to anyone else, he was doing all right, coping, so far.
"The Dark Lord came to me with a plan. A plan that was tantamount to revenge against Lucius Malfoy for failing to retrieve the prophecy, and rendering himself useless in Azkaban. You will know, of course, that the only wizard The Dark Lord has ever feared was Dumbledore."
"And Harry, I believe," Remus added quietly.
"It is madness to suggest that The Dark Lord fears such an incompetent fool of a boy," Snape spat.
"If it were the point at hand," Remus said, "I would ask you then, why he troubled himself with an attempt on the life of boy barely past his first birthday, but since it is not, I will leave that point alone, Severus."
While this was really no laughing matter, Tonks could not help putting one point squarely on Remus' tally, and cheering inwardly for his ability to lay down a barb, leaving his opponent with no choice but to ignore or lay himself open to childish protestations. Momentarily, she tightened her ankle around his, hoping he understood her meaning. His eyes briefly flickered in her direction, and she knew that he had. They would laugh about it later.
Snape chose the first option open to him, although not without revealing how much Remus' words had bothered him. "Are you interested in hearing about the plan or not? I have far more productive things to do with my time."
"By all means, continue," said Remus with a wave of his hand.
"When the Dark Lord returned, he had two items on his agenda that were of highest priority: the retrieval of the prophecy and the demise of Dumbledore. One man's failure in the former led to his son's assignment of the latter."
"Voldemort asked Draco Malfoy to kill Dumbledore?" Tonks asked.
"Yes, he did."
Voldemort had asked a young man not much more than a boy to overpower the greatest wizard of the age? It seemed ludicrous, foolish, even. Though, Tonks reminded himself, it hadn't been Malfoy who'd committed the murder…
"So where do you fit into this, Snape?" she asked.
"I'm getting there, you impatient girl. I did tell you this was a complicated story."
Tonks bristled internally, but tried not to react visibly.
"The Dark Lord did not expect Draco to succeed, though he did mark the boy as a Death Eater when he gave him the assignment. It was his other Death Eater at Hogwarts he expected to step up, once the boy had failed."
"That would be you," Tonks said.
"Naturally. When I was told of the plan, I did, of course, at the earliest opportunity, relay the news to Dumbledore. He did not react, but merely told me that under no circumstance what-so-ever was I to risk my place as spy amongst the Dark Lord's camp. It was, and I agreed with him, too important a position to risk, my intelligence has been invaluable to the Order, perhaps more so than any."
"Go on," Remus said, speaking for the first time in a while. Tonks wondered if he was thinking of his own mission, which he still perceived as a failure, whereas, in reality, it had simply been a lost cause. Though she thought the sting of that lessened with each day he spent with her, she knew it was still something Remus felt quite raw about.
"Not a day later," Snape continued, "I was paid a visit by Narcissa Malfoy and her petulant sister. Your aunts, Nymphadora."
"Technically," Tonks replied. "As you well know, it's not a relationship that's been acknowledged on either side during my lifetime."
"Quite," replied Snape, with an ugly curl of his lips. "Narcissa was highly distressed, wishing to speak with me regarding Draco's assignment. She begged me to help him. Bellatrix has always been suspicious of me, and that turned to open hostility after the failure to successfully deliver the prophecy; jealous, I believe, after her fall from the grace of the Dark Lord's right hand side, a gap I didn't hesitate to fill. She questioned my loyalty on all counts she rightly could have, for all of which I have practiced explanations, and used them effectively."
"Where is this leading, Severus?" Remus asked.
"To this: Sure that her son would die in the fight, Narcissa asked me to help, to look out for him, to make sure that he either succeeded or survived, and if failure and survival was to be his outcome, that I would step in and finish the job for him. She asked me to take the Unbreakable Vow."
Silence. Shocked silenced filled the air.
"You vowed to kill Dumbledore or die yourself?" Tonks whispered.
"You've got to see!" Snape said, sounding urgent and earnest for the first time. "I had no choice! Dumbledore's orders: do not compromise your position. He was of the opinion that I had done the only thing I could do, and that it was the correct decision. And don't forget that I've already told you he was a dying man."
Tonks looked at Remus, not caring for a moment about professionalism; his hands were clasped, white knuckled; his lips were set and pressed tightly together; his eyes were cast downwards. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. Perhaps, like her, a war raged within -- several wars, actually.
In the first instance, could she believe this story, this fantastically spun tale? What if it was all a calculated lie to draw them in, once more, so Snape could reclaim his seat in both camps? Surely his post in the ranks of the Order was as valuable to Voldemort as the Order had found Snape's position as a supposed spy amongst the Death Eaters. And Snape himself had said that his lies to Lestrange had been well practiced. Who was to say he hadn't been standing in front of Narcissa each night for the last week practicing this very story?
Then there was the much shakier ground of how to feel about Dumbledore's orders and Snape's oath of the Unbreakable Vow. This seemed to amount to Dumbledore planning his own death -- waiting for it, expecting it...
As though reading her thoughts, Remus' slightly hoarse voice said softly, "For a whole year, Albus knew he was going to die?"
For the first time, Snape seemed to waver, his expression almost crumpled as he looked down and said, in as near a tone of apology as Tonks had ever heard from him; he said simply, "Yes."
Silence once again descended on the room, even thicker and more potent than before. After a few minutes, Tonks couldn't help but reach out and lay her hand on Remus' thigh and giving it a slight squeeze; it wasn't the comfort she wanted to give -- she wanted to lead him out this room and up to theirs, hold him in her arms and let him take from her whatever he needed.
Small comfort seemed to be enough however, because Remus lifted his head and spoke quietly, "You must understand, Severus, that we need some time to process what you have told us, and that we may have further questions. What is it exactly that you want from us?"
"I had intended -- and discussed it, planned it so with Dumbledore," Snape said slowly, "that I would leave more time before coming to you -- to the Order, but recent events dictated that no more time could be spared."
"The Lovegood case?" Remus asked.
"It's more complicated and more far reaching than that, but yes," Snape replied.
"Please tell us what you know."
Tonks was a little surprised that Remus was allowing the change in subject and moving on so quickly, but perhaps it was as he'd said, they needed time to process -- talk about -- what they'd heard, and they really did need to find out as much as they could about their case.
"I gather from Miss Tonks that you are already aware that Mr. Lovegood, of the Quibbler..." His words were laced with scorn. "...is currently being held under the Imperius Curse."
"Correct," Remus said.
"What else do you know?" asked Snape.
"We have been able to surmise from speaking with his daughter and some notes I've found that there is a connection to the Onocentaur herd."
Tonks noted that he'd left out the Ministry connection, and resolved to ask him about it later.
"Good, that will save us time, of which I am now in short supply, if I am to retain my cover and return without the risk of being questioned. Almost as soon as he regained his corporeal form, the Dark Lord sent his servants to look for the herd. It is only recently that the search has yielded a return. It has been a great source of frustration to him that his men cannot get close to the herd without alerting them, and sending them, once more, on the run."
"But they have been able to follow them?" Tonks asked.
"Indeed. Maintaining a discreet distance, they have been able to track the herd from one forest to the next, ongoing for about three months now. When one attempt after another failed, it was accepted that they would be unable get close; they needed someone purer of heart, someone who had an interest in observing the Onocentaurs that wasn't rooted in personal gain, and once he was within a serviceable distance, he would be able to cast the Imperius himself, and lead one of the beasts away for capture."
"So they decided to get someone to do their bidding for them," Tonks said. "Mr. Lovegood"
"Yes. As Mr. Lovegood is well known as a fool in society, it was thought a little strange behaviour would go unnoticed -- perhaps an oversight given that the case is already under investigation by the Order of the Phoenix, and even his daughter, second only to the father for absurd ideas, felt the need to report the issue."
"Wait," said Tonks, "how do you know Luna reported it?"
"And there we come to the crux of the matter," Snape said. "You were overheard."
"Overheard? Where?" Tonks asked.
"Yesterday, when Miss Lovegood caught up to you in the street, you were being watched-"
Tonks felt Remus tense beside her, in his calf and his thigh, where her hand still rested. "Who was watching Tonks and why?" he said quickly, leaning forward.
"As touching as your concern is, Lupin, there is no need to get yourself worked into a frenzy. Your girlfriend is not the only one. All Ministry employees are watched leaving from the street entrance; there is an abandoned shop several doors down that serves as a spy post."
"The shop…" Tonks said with a groan.
"Quite," Snape said, the smallest of smirks touching his lips. "The latter part of your conversation was clearly audible, and a report made to the Dark Lord within the hour. And this is the important bit: the girl is in danger. Her head has been placed on the list of desirable hits."
"And, as I must leave you now, I will just say this: you must do everything you can to stop this from happening, there will be very little I can do except pass information when it is safe for me to do so."
"We are well aware of the gravity of this situation, Severus, do not mistake us on that point," said Remus.
"Good, then I will leave you to get on with your investigation," Snape said. "I presume I am free to go?" he said, his tone one of presumption despite his words.
"Yes," Remus said quietly, piercing Snape with his cold gaze. "Just one more thing … I don't trust you yet, and as such I am taking a great leap of faith in letting you go, and as you have indicated a willingness to work with us, I assume you won't be disagreeable to a meeting in two days time."
"That should be manageable. I shall send word. Do not reply. I suggest you do your utmost to make yourself available at the time and place I name."
"I will do whatever is necessary to close this case," Remus replied as he pushed back in his chair and stood.
Snape, too rose, then strode to the door, and grasped the handle; before he pulled the door open, he turned his body back to them but kept his face down to the floor. "I hated him. For the last few months, I hated him for what he was going to make me do."
Tonks was shocked at this display of vulnerability from Snape. Never had she seen him anything less than in control before.
"He gave me a second chance, and for that, he had and still does have my loyalty, and while I can be sure of what he would want me to do, I will continue to serve him."
And then he was gone; sweeping up the stairs, his cloak billowing behind him, leaving Tonks in a state of disbelief.
The front door slamming shut as Snape left the house brought Tonks back to her senses. She turned to Remus, who looked as though he was still working through Snape's parting words.
"Remus," she said, her voice sounding more plaintive than she'd intended.
He looked up at her, as though surprised that she'd spoken. He held out his hand to her, and she placed her own across it. He seemed to study her hand for a moment, running his thumb across the back, and then turning it over, lifting it to his lips and pressing the smallest of kisses to the sensitive skin in the centre of her palm, and letting his lips linger on her skin.
"Later," he said, pressing another kiss. "Let's talk about that bit later, once we've done what we can for Luna."
It was, she realised, what he needed to do: take care of the practical tasks that could measure progress before attending to their -- his -- own needs. She knew, too, that he neither wanted nor expected anything less from her than to turn directly to business, and to see to it as soon as possible would ensure that she could turn to his needs all the more quickly.
"Do you think The Burrow is safe enough?" she asked.
"For now, yes, I think so. Although Molly and Arthur will have to be made aware of the risk, and that choice is theirs." Remus lowered her hand but did not let go, but threaded his fingers through hers and rested them on his knee.
"I wonder," Tonks said slowly, as an idea began to form. "If we shouldn't stage something to give the impression that Luna is on her own again, and not in the protection of the Ministry, or as they've probably guessed, the Order, since I mentioned you in our original conversation."
"What did you have in mind?"
"Well, if we staged a meeting between you and Luna, outside the shop, you could argue about whether she was in need of protection or not, and whether her father was in danger. She could reiterate her explanations for her father's behaviour. You fail to convince her of the danger, and she leaves, at which point I can start following her, morphed, pick her up after a safe distance, and take her back to The Burrow or bring her here."
"You're brilliant, do you know that?" Remus said, his eyes suddenly a shining blue as he looked at her, in contrast to the stormy grey they'd been only moments before.
She was forcibly reminded of the first time he'd looked at her with such palpable admiration -- the night Harry'd been attacked by the Dementors -- the night that ought to have been a celebration of their declarations of love, but which had been cut short by duty to the Order, and instead she'd found herself hatching a plan to rescue Harry from his Muggle relatives while Remus had exchanged Owls with every Order member who needed to be made aware for that nights events.
She grinned at him, feeling the old spark of fun, of co-conspirators returning to their partnership. "Today, do you think? Or tomorrow?"
"I don't think we should wait another minute," Remus said. "Then bright and early tomorrow morning, we can decide what to do about Mr. Lovegood. We've left it long enough, it's time we started actively looking for him."
"Off to The Burrow, then?" asked Tonks.
"I think so," Remus replied as he rose, pulling Tonks to her feet with him.
Many hours later, Tonks and Remus were wearily climbing the stairs to her flat. They'd run into Kingsley at The Burrow, who'd offered to stay at Grimmauld to give them both a night away from the grim confines of the house, for which they were both immensely grateful.
They'd picked up supper at the chippy around the corner, and tucked under Remus' arm was a paper bag, emblazoned with the slogan 'The Great British Take Away' that contained a large portion of chips, dripping in vinegar and liberally sprinkled with salt and a large haddock for them to share.
Once they'd let themselves in and recast the security charms, Tonks turned her wand on the windows to let some of the warm, fresh night infuse the stuffy air of her too-long abandoned flat, while Remus summoned two dusty bottles of Butterbeer from a cupboard in the kitchen and unfolded the paper around their food, laying it on the coffee table.
Tonks grinned at the remembered normality of it all; a year of informal dinners, seated on the floor in her living room, sharing fish and chips or Chinese, or the occasional toasted sandwich they'd sometimes dared to prepare together.
"Come on," Remus said, holding his hand out to her, "let's enjoy this, and then we can get the serious stuff out the way before I haul you off to bed."
She settled down beside him, and he handed her one of the little wooden forks that always seemed perfect for chips, but did not fair so well when it came to eating a large piece of battered fish.
They chatted about nothing, and laughed as they struggled with their -- well, she supposed it must be called cutlery, although that seemed a bit of an exaggeration. Tonks told him of a few diverting stories from her time stationed in Hogsmeade -- and she had many to chose from, despite the doom and gloom that had descended in the current situation, as it was impossible to spend any length of time in an all-Wizarding village without coming across a few eccentrics every now and again.
Once they'd finished, Remus Banished the few soggy chips that remained and the paper to the bin, and lay his arm across the seat of the sofa, motioning for Tonks to snuggle up to him. She picked up her Butterbeer and scooted closer, nestling her shoulder under his, and curling her legs over his thighs.
He kissed her briefly, then chinked his bottle against hers, and said, "To a job well done and a most excellent plot."
The sting with Luna had gone as well as they could have hoped for. Having at last conceded to Remus that her father might indeed be in danger, Luna said she would do anything she could to help them in their quest to get him back. Tonks had decided that she was a terribly stoic child, taking everything in her stride, and beneath all the eccentricities lay quite a grounded common sense. And Tonks thought she'd detected a measure of neediness, too, that a large part of Luna's willingness to participate in today's operation had been to fulfil a sense of usefulness; for Luna had been nothing less than excited to have an active role to play.
In true Ravenclaw form, she'd risen to the task most admirably when it came to staging her argument with Remus. Tonks had watched from a bench across the street, disguised as a Muggle in her forties, pretending to read a novel. At a prearranged signal from Remus, she'd stowed the book in the handbag she was carrying and headed up the street, ducking into an alley to morph once again, this time into a teenager around Luna's age, transfigured her outfit into something more appropriate, and then waited for Luna to catch up with her. They'd walked on a bit further, turning into several streets until they'd come to a large Muggle department store, its windows full of large blue crosses. They'd entered and headed to the lifts, and waited until they were alone to Apparated back to The Burrow, where Molly and Arthur, on hearing about the threat to Luna's life, had been quite insistent she stay, given that many of the protective measures that had been installed after Harry's visit last summer were still in place.
"Now we just need to decide what to do about the other Lovegood," Tonks said heavily. "Do you have any ideas?"
Remus set down his Butterbeer and placed his hand on Tonks' knee. "I think we should go and have a look around the Lovegood's house, see if we can find anything about where, particularly, in the Forest of Dean they might be targeting. It's not exactly a small place, and heading straight there without any idea of where we're going would be foolish and a waste of time."
"There were no specifics in Dumbledore's notes?" Tonks asked.
"Nothing I could make out," replied Remus with a sigh. "He was never was much of one for committing things to paper. There is something I'd like you to take a look at though." He shifted slightly, keeping his arm tightly around her shoulders, and reaching into a pocket in his robes. He pulled out a tatty piece of parchment and handed it to her.
Tonks opened it carefully, making sure not to enlarge the slight splits in the paper in the corner of each fold. "There seem to be a number of Runes in the margins, and you well know how abysmal my Runes knowledge is…" He gave her an adorably sheepish smile, which she returned with a grin.
She pushed the table back and turned to sit cross-legged beside Remus, smoothing the parchment on the floor in front of her. She leant over it, reading Dumbledore's familiar swirling cursive script quickly and then tracing her fingers over the single rune on the page. "That's Algiz," she said, "Rune of protection and spirituality."
"Protection?" Remus says, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it fits doesn't it?" Tonks said with a frown as she tried to remember more. "I seem to remember something else about it symbolising a hunt or something. Let's grab my book from the shelves." She took her wand and Summoned an old, dusty tome from the bookshelf in the corner. "Dad gave me this for my seventeenth birthday, said it was one of the few crossovers from Muggle to Magic, and he wanted me to have a little of both."
She turned the leather cover and ran a finger over the inscription in the front:
It was a simple, crudely draw Dagaz, the rune of transformation and of brightness, growth, progress and development. To her, it had been a simple message of his support for the career she hoped to pursue the following year, and had meant more than a thousand words strung together in the face of her mother's continuing disapproval. Along with the usual rush of affection she always felt for her Dad whenever she took out this book, whether for research or simply out of interest, came a pang of guilt; she'd not been home in over a year, and, she realised, it was something she'd have to rectify soon; she needed to take Remus home to meet his future in-laws.
"Tonks?" Remus said enquiringly.
She shook her head. "Sorry," she said, "I always get a bit sentimental over this old book." Then she laughed. "Right. Algiz."
Tonks leafed through a few pages, until she came to the simple Rune of Algiz, with it's straight Yew tree formation. She lifted the book and settled it so it half lay across Remus' lap and half across her own. They read together.
Algiz illustrates both the antlers of the elk, and the shape of the sedge-grass herb. It also suggests the splayed fingers of a warding-off hand. It is a powerful rune of protection and, spiritually, it symbolizes reaching up to the divine. Algiz also represents success through endeavour in a hunt, quest, or other enterprise.
"I usually find that the rune's deity is the most helpful place to start," she said. "See, Heimdall, here." She turned the page and read quickly, growing more excited.
"Are there any stories about the Onocentaurs having a horn?"
"Like antlers, you mean?" Remus asked.
"No, as in a bugle or something."
"Oh," Remus said, laughing, "no, not that I know of."
"Hm," Tonks said, "it seems Heimdall here is the guardian of the gods and will sound his horn when danger approaches, he has exceptionally sensitive hearing; it is said he can hear the grass growing. He is guardian of the Bifröst Bridge, which is-" she started to flick through the pages.
"The bridge away from the land of mortals," Remus finished.
They spent the next hour reading everything they could about Heimdall, his horn -- the Gjallarhorn -- the Bifröst Bridge and any related topic. They talked about the possibilities and how the legends they were reading about could apply to what they knew of the Onocentaur herd. Finally, Remus Summoned a detailed atlas from the shelves and opened it to the north end of the Forest. They agreed that their first port of call ought to be the existing bridges built by Muggles, since it was as good as any a place to start and they didn't have any other leads.
Of course, their search of the Lovegood house might well turn something up in the morning, but as Remus said, and Tonks whole heartedly agreed, it was good to have a back-up plan.
At that point, Tonks decided it was time for work to end, and to turn their thoughts to the issue they'd both put aside all day: Snape.
She asked Remus to uncork a bottle of wine she'd been saving for no reason in particular while she put away the books. Just a few minutes later, they were both curled up in their favourite position on the couch, and sipping on glasses of perfectly chilled white wine.
"How do you feel about this morning, Remus?" Tonks asked softly, once they'd both taken a sip.
He sighed deeply and, to her dismay, his posture, that had seemed so sure, so confident during their research and planning, drooped visibly. She was sorry to have to bring the subject up, but she had to know how he felt, and she knew that he needed to talk about it, and wouldn't bring it up himself.
"I don't know, to be honest. I have no idea what I'm supposed to think." He threaded his fingers through her free hand, which rested across her thighs. "As much as I'm loathe to admit it, my instinct is to trust him with caution. We can't say that we weren't surprised when we heard the news from Harry that night -- none of us."
"I know, but it's just so hard to come accept that at the end of the day, he did kill Dumbledore, even if we accept his story. I still can't get over what he said about Dumbledore expecting it for an entire year. Wasn't he scared?"
"No," Remus said softly. "Dumbledore would never be afraid of death. Dying at the wrong time, perhaps; dying for no reason. But, if Severus' story is true, I believe Dumbledore would have seen it as a necessity and, above all, an honour."
"It still doesn't make it fair, though," Tonks whispered.
"It doesn't, but we can't dwell on that. I don't think we can compare the value of two lives; I've been thinking about it all day, and all that I keep coming back to is what would Dumbledore want us to do? What would Dumbledore himself do?"
"Let's say, for the sake of argument that Snape is telling the truth -- and we should be able to confirm it soon, shouldn't we? When Dumbledore's portrait wakes up -- I think he would want us to forgive, and use every resource he's left us to continue fighting."
"You're right," Remus said with feeling, picking up her hand and pressing a kiss to it. "You're absolutely right."
Tonks gave his hand a squeeze and, after a few moments silence asked, "Are you okay?"
"How could I be anything but, when you're by my side?" His blue eyes met hers earnestly.
Touched beyond measure by his words, Tonks leaned in for a kiss; soft and slow and achingly sweet.
"We've had a long day," Tonks said against Remus' lips when they parted just slightly. "Do you think we ought to get to bed?"
"Sounds like an excellent suggestion to me," Remus replied, pressing one more kiss to her lips before breaking away and draining the last of his wine. Tonks did the same, and clambered out of his lap, offering her his hands.
They headed, hand-in-hand to their bedroom, leaving the wine glasses to be washed in the morning.